Communicating information associated with provisioning of a service, over a user plane connection

ABSTRACT

A method of communicating information associated with provisioning of a service in a communication system and arrangement for the same is disclosed. In the method information about possible associations between an identifier of a mobile user equipment ( 10 ) and user plane addresses is stored in storage means ( 34 ). A service provisioning entity may receive a request for the service from a client ( 24 ) connected to the communication system. Said request includes an identifier of the mobile user equipment. It is verified if a user plane address can be found from the storage means based on the identifier. If such a user plane address is found from the storage means, data associated with provisioning of the requested service is communicated to the mobile user equipment over a user plane connection associated with said address found from the storage means. If no user plane address can be found from the storage means based on the identifier, a new user plane connection is established, and data associated with provisioning of the requested service is communicated to the mobile user equipment over said established user plane connection.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to communication of information to amobile user equipment via a communication system. The invention may beused in provisioning of services for clients, e.g. in provision ofinformation regarding the location of a mobile user equipment for anexternal client.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A communication system typically operates in accordance with a givenstandard or specification which sets out what the various elements ofthe system are permitted to do and how that should be achieved. Forexample, the standard or specification may define if the user, or moreprecisely, a user equipment or terminal is provided with a circuitswitched service or a packet switched service or both. The specificationmay also define the communication channels through which the signallingassociated with various communication tasks are to be communicated. Themanner how communication shall be implemented between the user equipmentand the elements of the communication network may be based on apredefined communication protocol. In other words, a specific set of“rules” on which the communication can be based on needs to be definedto enable communication by means of the communication system.

In order be able to operate in a predefined manner, various differentfunctions needs to be provided in a communication system. Thesefunctions can be divided in different categories. A category comprisesfunctions that relate to the actual transportation of communication suchas communication of voice, text or multimedia or other data. Anothercategory can be seen as being formed by control or management functions.These include the control of the communication of voice, text,multimedia and other data communication. Provisioning of variousservices for the users needs also be controlled by appropriate controlfunctions.

Signalling of messages associated with different functions is understoodas being implemented on different planes. For example, control messagesare communicated on a control plane and the actual communication ofvoice, data and so on is transported on a user plane. The communicationon the user plane can be supported by the signalling of the controlmessages on the control plane. The skilled person in the art ofcommunication systems is familiar with principles of dividing variousfunctions into planes, and therefore these will not be explained in anygreater herein.

Typically the communication systems provide this by means of separatechannels, e.g. by means of separated signalling and communicationchannels. Such arrangements are employed e.g. by signalling system 7(SS7) core networks and Q.931/GSM/WCDMA (Global system for Mobilecommunication/Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) subscriber access.Therefore the term “Signalling channel” may sometimes be used whenreferring to control plane communications. Similarly the termcommunication channel may be used when referring to user planecommunications.

The various functions of the communication systems may have beendeveloped quite independently from each other and may use differentrules such as protocols in different communication systems. Thestandards and protocols define e.g. which plane shall be used for acertain purpose.

Various services can be provided for a user of a user equipment by meansof a communication system. The services can be provided by the operatoror operators of the communication system, such as a telephone or datanetwork operator. At least a part of the services can be provided byservice providers that are external and/or independent from theoperators of the communication system.

Communication network systems that provide mobility for the usersthereof are known. The skilled person is aware of the basic principlesof such mobile communication systems. A well known example is the publicland line mobile network (PLMN), known also as a cellular communicationnetwork. Another example is a mobile communication system that is atleast partially based on use of communication satellites.

Services that utilise information ab1out the geographical location of amobile user equipment (and thus the user) in the service provisioningare also known. Such services are sometimes referred to as locationsensitive services. Recent development in the field of mobilecommunications has lead to arrangements wherein information about thecurrent location of a mobile user equipment is determined and can beutilised in provision of various services for the user of the mobileuser equipment.

The mobile network apparatus and/or mobile user equipment such as amobile station can be employed for provision of information regardingthe geographical location of the user equipment and thus the userthereof. A mobile user equipment and the user thereof can be positionedby various different techniques. For example, substantially accurategeographical location information that associates with a user equipmentcan be obtained based on the known satellite based GPS (GlobalPositioning System). In another approach the cells or similargeographically limited radio access entities and associated controllersof the communication system are utilised in production of an estimateconcerning the location of the mobile user equipment. The communicationsystem may also be provided with specific location measurement units(LMUs) that provide data concerning the location of a user equipment.

It is also possible to conclude geographical location even if a mobileuser equipment is located within the coverage area of a visited or“foreign” network. The visited network may be made capable oftransmitting the location of the mobile user equipment back to the homenetwork, e.g. to support services that are based on location informationor for the purposes of routing and charging.

The production of data for the location determinations (such as variousmeasurements and calculations) does not form an essential element of thepresent invention, and is thus not described in any greater detailherein. It is sufficient to note that a location service (LCS) entitymay be employed in the provisioning of location information associatedwith a target mobile user equipment for an entity that has requested forsuch information (the client). The client may comprise a serviceapplication that may use the information is provisioning of locationsensitive information for the subscribers to its services. The locationservice entity may implemented within the cellular system or connectedthereto. The location service entity provided by the communicationsystem may serve different clients via an appropriate interface. Thelocation service entities may provide the location information based ondata that has been provided by various sources. Location data may alsobe processed in the user equipment that is provided with appropriateprocessing capacity. The user equipment may then provide the locationservice entity or the client with, location data, for example locationco-ordinates.

The client may make use of that location information for variousservices/applications, such as for location of a mobile telephone thathas made an emergency call, for locating vehicles or given mobilesubscribers for commercial purposes and so on. In general, a client suchas a user or entity wishing to receive location information regardinganother user may send a request for such information to the locationservice provision entity. The location service provisioning entity willthen process the request, obtain the required data for generating aresponse and generate an appropriate response.

An example of the provision of the location information by a PLMN isdescribed in more detail 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)technical specifications, see e.g. 3GPP TS 23.271 version 4.2.0, titled“Functional stage 2 description of LCS”, June 2001. According to the3GPP specification a location service (LCS) server entity referred to asa Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) is provided for managing thelocation services. The GMLC is for gathering and storing various datathat may be used in provision of location information for the locationservice clients (LCS clients).

The proposed location service (LCS) solutions employ control planesignalling channels for signalling messages that associate with theprovisioning of the location services, such as for requests for locationinformation, messages for conveying location service assistance data andso on. However, the inventors have found that the signalling of messagesthat associate with the provisioning of the location information maycause relatively high load on the control plane. This may be especiallythe case on the air interface between the mobile user equipment and theradio network apparatus servicing the mobile user equipment.

The inventors have found that this problem could be overcome if the userplane could be used for such purposes. By means of this it could bepossible to avoid the use of the substantially heavy SS7 (signallingsystem No 7) based control plane signalling. Furthermore, use of theuser plane could help in solving the problem that relates to thesubstantially high variations in the signalling load occurring isresponse to the location information service enquiries or other similarunpredictably occurring service request. This is so since no resourceallocation is required for the packet switched user plane communicationin the manner as is required for signalling the same information overthe control plane.

A specific example of user plane communication that could be used forcommunication of data to and from the mobile user equipment is based onthe Internet Protocol (IP). However, in order to be able to transmite.g. assistance data on the user plane in an Internet Protocol (IP)based positioning system the entity of the location service need to bemade aware of the IP address of the target user equipment. A problem inthis is that the IP address of the target user equipment is notnecessarily known by an application making the request to the locationservice. Even if the IP address of the requester of the locationinformation is known by the application making the request, and is e.g.delivered in the http-header of the request (hypertext transportprotocol header) to the location information service, the target userequipment may be different from the requester accessing the application.Furthermore, the addressing schemes such as the IP addressing may varyin different domains. Thus the application, requestor, operator and thetarget user equipment may have different addressing scheme in use intheir own domains.

The prior art does not offer a solution wherein it could be possible toestablish a user plane IP connection in the event that the user plane IPaddress of the target user equipment is not given by the requester.However, the target user equipment may already have a user plane sessionand thus a user plane IP address. The possible IP address of the targetuser equipment is known only by an access node such as an access server(e.g. a GGSN) to which the target user equipment is connected to for theInternet Protocol (IP) user plane session between the user equipment andthe IP network.

The inventors have found a need for a solution wherein an existing userplane address, such as an Internet Protocol (IP) address, can be usedfor communication of data to the user equipment should such as addressexist.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention aim to address one or several ofthe above problems.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided amethod of communicating information associated with provisioning of aservice in a communication system, the method comprising:

-   -   storing in storage means information about possible associations        between an identifier of a mobile user equipment and user plane        addresses;    -   receiving at a service provisioning entity a request for the        service from a client connected to the communication system,        said request including the identifier of the mobile user        equipment;    -   verifying if a user plane address can be found from the storage        means based on the identifier; and    -   if such a user plane address is found from the storage means,        communicating data associated with provisioning of the requested        service to the mobile user equipment over a user plane        connection associated with said address found from the storage        means; and    -   if no user plane address can be found from the storage means        based on the identifier, establishing a new user plane        connection and communicating data associated with provisioning        of the requested service to the mobile user equipment over said        established user plane connection.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is providedan arrangement in a communication system for provision of a service inresponse to a request from a client, the provisioning of the servicerequiring communication of data to a mobile user equipment, thearrangement comprising:

-   -   a service provisioning entity for receiving a service request        from the client, the request identifying the mobile user        equipment by means of an identifier;    -   storage means for maintaining information regarding possible        associations between the identifier of the mobile user equipment        and user plane addresses that can be used for user plane data        transmissions in said communication system, wherein the storage        is arranged to verify if a user plane address for communication        of data can be found from the storage means based on the        identifier, and,    -   if such a user plane address is found from the storage means,        data associated with provisioning of the requested service to        the mobile user equipment is communicated over a user plane        connection associated with said address found from the storage        means, and    -   if no user plane address can be found from the storage means        based on the identifier, a new user plane connection is        established and data associated with provisioning of the        requested service to the mobile user equipment is communicated        over said established user plane connection.

The solution enables mapping between the identifier of the userequipment and the user plane address independently from the clientapplication. The embodiments enable mapping e.g. a MSISDN (MobileSubscriber Integrated Services Digital Network) number to IP addressesused by other servers. The mapping can be done in the service deliverychain. The mapping is preferably done by entity or entities controlledby the operator of the communication network. Thus the operator maycontrol how much information is revealed for entities outside theoperators own system. The embodiments provide a method for associatingan identifier obtained from the client application with an IP address ofthe target user equipment at the same time while it is possible forclient entity (e.g. a location service entity) to access the addressdata. The client entity may trigger establishment of a user planeconnection if the target user equipment does not have an active userplane connection.

The embodiments enable service applications (e.g. location serviceapplications) wherein assistance data may be carried over aconnectionless user plane connection. It is possible to avoid theproblems associated in the provision of the data communication userplane address, such as the IP address, for the delivery of theassistance data. The herein proposed concept can also be enhanced tosupport anonymity of the users.

If the mapping functionality is arranged as a separate function in thehome PLMN the mapping can also be provided for roaming users. Visitedhome network can request for the user plane address from locationservice entity counterparts of the other network Furthermore, inembodiments wherein the address mapping is done in the home network ofthe target user equipment the changes of obtaining the correct userplane address of the user equipment is improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

For better understanding of the present invention, reference will now bemade by way of example to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows the concept of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows mapping of IP addresses to identities 10 by means of aRadius server;

FIG. 3 shows another way of mapping IP addresses to identities; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of one embodiment ofthe present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Reference is made to FIG. 1 which is a simplified presentation of acellular system to which the present invention may be applied. Moreparticularly, FIG. 1 shows an arrangement wherein the radio accessnetwork 3 of a cellular system provides radio coverage areas i.e. cells2. Each radio coverage area 2 is typically served by a base station 4(only one base station shown for clarity). It should be appreciated thata cell may include more than one base station site. A base stationapparatus or site may also provide more than one cell. The shape andsize of the cells 2 depend on the implementation and may be differentfrom the illustrated shapes. The shape and size of the cells may alsovary from cell to cell.

Each of the base stations is controlled by an access network controller.For example, a 3G radio access network controller (RNC) or a moreconventional base station controller (BSC) of the GSM may be used forsuch purposes. The access network controller may be connected toappropriate core network entities of the cellular system, such as a MSC(mobile switching centre), a HLR (home location register) and/or SGSN(serving general packet radio service support node), via a suitableinterface arrangement.

User equipment such as a mobile station (MS) 10 is also shown. It shallbe appreciated that a number of user equipment may be in communicationvia the cellular system although only one mobile user equipment is shownin FIG. 1 for clarity. The mobile user equipment 10 is arranged totransmit signals to and receive signals from the base station 4 via awireless interface. By means of this arrangement the access network 3can serve the mobile user equipment 10. In order to ensure properoperation of the system, control messages that associate with calls toand/or from the user equipment 10 needs typically to be communicated onthe control plane between network entities and the user equipment 10.

It shall be appreciated that the various entities associated with theradio access network and the communication system are shown and brieflydescribed only in order to facilitate the understanding of theinvention. These entities do not form an essential element of theinvention, and are thus not explained in any greater detail herein.

The location of the mobile user equipment 10 may vary in time as theuser equipment is free to move within the coverage area of a basestation and also from a coverage area (cell) to another coverage area.As mentioned above, the modern communication systems are capable ofproviding information regarding the geographical location of a userequipment within the coverage area thereof. The geographical locationmay be defined, for example, on the basis of the position of the mobilestation relative to the base station(s) of the mobile telecommunicationsnetwork and/or based on information from a satellite based positioningsystem.

The communication system may be provided with various different entitiesfor processing information gathered from the cells and/or some otherparameters and/or for computing by processor means appropriatecalculations for determining and outputting the geographical location ofthe target user equipment. The location information may be obtained byusing one or more of the appropriate location techniques. At least apart of the location information may be provided based on informationprovided by system that is separate from the communication system, suchas by means of the satellite based Global Positioning System (GPS),assisted GPS (A-GPS), Galileo™ or similar.

The user equipment 10 may be adapted to perform location measurementsand/or calculations and other processing required for the provision ofinformation regarding the geographical position thereof. The userequipment may accomplish this e.g. using an OTDOA (Observed timedifference of arrival) and/or TA (timing advance) or similar capabilitythereof. The user equipment 10 may alternatively or in addition be a GPSenabled terminal. That is, the user equipment may be provided with a GPSreceiver for receiving signals from GPS satellites and means forprocessing GPS data. A part of the GPS data may be provided as anassistance data from the mobile network.

The geographical location of the user equipment may be defined, forexample, in X and Y co-ordinates or in latitudes and longitudes. Apossibility is to use the relation between defined radiuses and angles,e.g. based on the spherical coordinate system or alike. It is alsopossible to define the location of the base stations and/or mobilestations in vertical directions. For example, Z co-ordinate may be usedwhen providing the location information in the vertical direction. Thevertical location may be needed e.g. in mountainous environments or incities with tall buildings.

Since there are various possibilities how to determine the location ofthe target user equipment and since the invention is not dependent onthe used location determination technology, these are not be describedin any greater detail herein.

The location service (LCS) functionality of the communication system isshown to be provided by several entities. A specific location serviceserver entity 18 comprises components and bearers needed in provision oflocation services to LCS clients 24. The server entity may provide aplatform which will enable the support of location based services inparallel with other telecommunication services such as speech, data,messaging, other teleservices, user applications and supplementaryservices. The LCS Server may thus provide the client 24, on request orperiodically, the current or most recent geographic location (ifavailable) of the target user equipment or, if the location fails, anerror indication and optionally the reason for the failure.

FIG. 1 shows an entity 18 comprising a Gateway Mobile Location Center(GMLC) entity and a IP Servicing Mobile Location Center (SMLC) as anexample of a location service entity for gathering and storing data thatis required for the provision of the location information. The locationinformation services entity 18 is arranged to receive via appropriateinterface means information concerning the location of the mobile userequipment 10 from the cellular system 3. The location service entity 18is typically implemented in the core network side of the communicationsystem. The entity 18 may receive location information from the radioaccess network via appropriate controller entities such as the MSC(Mobile Switching Center) and/or HLR (Home Location Register) and/or aSMSC via appropriate interface means.

A specific gateway entity for accessing the location informationservices entity 18 may also be provided. In FIG. 1 the clientapplication 24 is shown to request for user position from a locationservices middleware entity 22. The Location middleware entity 22 may bea mobile positioning enabling server that is responsible for functionssuch as user profiling (privacy checks), service screening, locationdata manipulation, charging, subscriber authentication, system controlfunctions and so on.

The location middleware server entity 22 may be provided in the corenetwork side of the communication system. The server may communicatewith the client 24 by means of extended mark-up language (XML) documentsbased on the hypertext transfer protocol (http). As is also shown, theserver entity 22 may then contact the entity 18 via an appropriateinterface.

In FIG. 1 the location service (LCS) client 24 is shown to comprise anentity providing various service applications 25. The clients isentitled to receive at least some degree of information concerning thelocation (or location history) of a target user equipment. The client 24may request for location information from the communication system. Theclient 24 can thus be seen as a logical functional entity that may makea request for location information of one or more target user equipmentfor what ever purposes.

The client 24 can consist of any entity that may make use of thelocation information and may provide location sensitive services. Theservice application may use the location information e.g. to enhanceusability of the service or for content segmentation. Examples of suchinclude, without any intention of being restricted to these, serviceapplications such as pure location information services, games whereinlocation information can be utilised and fleet management applications.

The particular requirements and characteristics of a LCS Client aretypically known to the location service server of the communicationsystem e.g. based on a LCS client subscription profile. Particularrestrictions associated with individual target user equipment may alsobe defined.

The LCS client 24 may be an entity that is external to the communicationnetwork. The LCS client may also be an internal client (ILCS) i.e.reside in any entity or node (including the mobile station) within thecommunication system. The communication between the LCS client 24 andthe mobile user equipment 10 may occur via a Gateway GPRS Support Node(GGSN) 14 and Wireless Application Part (WAP) or short message servicescenter (SMSC) node 16. The communication may occur on the user plane inaccordance with e.g. the hypertext transport protocol (http).

The inventors have found that it is possible to use a user planeconnection also for transportation of data messages that associate withthe provision of information about the location of the target userequipment 10. For example, packet switched internet protocol (IP) userplane connection may be provided for such communication in parallel withanother user plane communication media such as PDP (packet dataprotocol) context, data call, WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network)communications and so on. Messages that relate to the provisioning ofthe location information services such as the location informationrequests, responses and assistance data may be delivered via a IPconnection that is set up for such messages e.g. in response to alocation request.

FIG. 1 thus also illustrates a possible system architecture to implementuser plane based positioning i.e. location information provision system.Communication of “normal” or actual telecommunication traffic such asvoice, data or multimedia content to and/or from the user equipment 10is carried as user plane communication. Signalling of messages thatsupport the normal communication are carried on a control plane.However, communication of information supporting the provision ofinformation about the location of the user equipment 10 is arranged tobe carried on the user plane between at least a part of the entitiesinvolved in the provision of the location information. That is, userplane connections can be used instead of the control plane for thetransfer of location information service specific data.

User plane can be used for communication of data between the userequipment 10 and the IP SMLC 20. It may also be used for communicationof data between the user equipment 10 and the GMLC 19 or any otherserver or service that provides the interface between the client and/orappropriate functionality.

Different transmission control protocol (TCP) connections of a single IPsession may be used in the provisioning of the location informationservices. Alternatively a dedicated IP session can be created for thelocation services, for example, between the serving mobile locationcenter (IP SMLC) 20 and the user equipment 10.

The embodiments described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3enable use of an existing user plane IP session for communication ofinformation that associated with the provisioning of the locationinformation service. As shown by the flow chart of FIG. 4, if no userplane session exits, a new user plane IP session may be established forcommunication of the information associated with the provisioning of thelocation information. The new session may be established, for example,by means of the so called push WAP procedure or any other procedureavailable for the user plane connection establishment.

In operation, the client application 24 may make a request for locationinformation to the location middleware entity 22. The client 24 mayprovide an identifier such as a nickname or the MSISDN (MobileSubscriber Integrated Services Digital Network) number of the targetuser equipment as a part of the location request. The followingdescribes a possibility to map the identifier in the request with anIP-address in the location service delivery chain such that the client24 is not necessarily required to provide the actual IP address of thetarget user equipment in the request.

The IP address of the target user equipment is required so thatassistance data can be transmitted over the user plane in a IP basedpositioning system. To facilitate this, the location middleware 22 isprovided with a mechanism to enquire the IP address from an appropriatesource. In FIGS. 1 to 3 the storage means for maintaining theassociation is provided by a storage means 34.

The storage means 34 maintains a database wherein the MSISDN identifierof a mobile user equipment and the IP address (or a plurality of IPaddresses) assigned to said mobile user equipment are dynamicallyassociated to each other. If no active PDP (packet data protocol)context can be found from the database, it can be concluded that thereis no IP address for the target user equipment. In such a case a newuser plane connection may be opened in order to generate an IP addressfor use by the location information service entities.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show two embodiments. FIG. 2 arrangement corresponds tothe RADIUS process of FIG. 1. The RADIUS process may be based on an openstandard. However, the embodiments require a specific implementation ofthe RADIUS proxy 30 and the database storage client 34. The Radius proxy30 can be provided by means of shareware.

During the PDP Context Activation, a GGSN (GPRS Gateway Support Node) 14may provide subscriber authentication procedure to the RemoteAuthentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server 32. This type ofoperation is defined e.g. in the Access Point name (APN) configurationof the GGSN. The authentication server resides preferably in theexternal Internet Service provider (ISP) or Intranet network to whichthe user equipment 10 is connected.

The RADIUS server 32 and authentication processes are omitted from FIG.3. By means of this it is possible to avoid some of the signallingstages of FIG. 2.

The IP serving mobile location center (IP SMLC) 20 may use an existingIP connection on the user plane to communicate with the user equipment10 for obtaining information required for the location calculations. Theuser plane connection which may be used to convey location relatedrequests, responses and assistance data may be accessed via the gatewayGPRS support node (GGSN) 14, mobile portal or similar gateway to theuser plane. That is, the GGSN 14 may provide a path or gateway to accessa preestablished IP connection on the user plane, i.e. the access pointor access server (AS). In practice this enables the IP SMLC 20 tocommunicate with the user equipment 10 via the GGSN 14. In accordancewith an alternative a mobile portal provides the access point 14 insteadof the GGSN.

As shown by FIGS. 1 to 3 the access server (AS; e.g. a GGSN) 14 may senda accounting request message including the so called Accounting-Requestpackets. The access server 14 may obtain various information from theAccounting-Request packets. The message may include, for example, datafields such as the IPADDRESS, MSISDN, IMSI (International MobileSubscriber Identity), CHARGING-ID, PREPAID-IND, GGSN-IP-ADDRESS andSGSN-IP-ADDRESS of the target user equipment or subscriber. Thisinformation may be passed on to the storage means 34 for storage ofthese parameters.

The storage means 34 may provide appropriate mapping of the identifiersand IP addresses to provide the associations. In a possibleimplementation the mapping function may be provided by means of aseparate mediator function. This may be provided in the middlewareserver 22 or in another application level network server. Such a servermay be provided in association with the IP SMLC 20.

The mediator entity 20 may also include IP connection managementfunction arranged to initiate the mapping of identifiers from theclients to IP addresses of the target mobile user equipment 10. Whenreceiving a location information request the mediator with IP mappingcapability may use the identifier (ID) of the requested subscriber andaccess the database 34 in order to obtain an IP address for the targetuser equipment. The IP address is then used for provision ofcommunication connection to the user equipment 10, for example forsending of assistance data for location calculations.

As shown by FIG. 4, no IP addess may be found. If no IP address existsit can be concluded that there is no active i.e. open PDP context to theuser equipment 10.

If the IP address of the user equipment is known the locationinformation is passed directly to IP Serving Mobile Location Server(SMLC) 20 for use in the location provision procedures.

The mediator may provide functions such as dynamic selection and gatewayfunctions. More particularly, the mediator may select if locationinformation is to be provided by the telecommunication system or byanother location information provision system. The mediator entity mayinclude a selection logic e.g. whether location is fetched from agateway mobile location center (GMLC) 19 of the communication network orfrom another entity via an IP connection. The method to be used in theprovisioning of the location information may be selected based e.g. onthe Quality of positioning (QoP) parameter included in the request orbased on any other appropriate criteria. The determination may be madebased on any appropriate method, such as by utilising informationregarding the service area identity/visited MSC (SAI/V-MSC) by means ofthe GMLC 19 or based on the GPS information that is accessible by the IPSMLC 20.

The mediator may know whether the user equipment 10 is attached to Homeor roaming network. If the user equipment is in the home network themediator sends a PDP context activation request to the user equipment10. Destination address may be selected from a generic address pool.After the user equipment has activated a PDP context (and IP addressesare allocated) to the mediator, the location request is handed to theSMLC together with the IP address of the user equipment. If the userequipment is in roaming network a similar procedure can be usedotherwise than that the IP address needs to be obtained separately.

The IP address mapping entity for retrieving IP addresses may beimplemented at the IP SMLC 20 or as a part of the mediator, or in anyother appropriate entity of the network. The mapping function may alsobe a shared functionality.

If the IP mapping functionality is provided as a separate function, itcan be provided also for the roaming subscribers. The visited networkcan request the IP address from a location middleware counterpart ofother network. The basic concept in here is that instead of asking IPmapping from the home network this may be asked from the visited networkvia a GMLC to GMLC interface or some other interface that may beprovided between the entities.

An embodiment provides anonymity for the target user equipment. Adatabase that includes MSISDN and IP address may also or alternativelyinclude an identity such as a name (either the proper name or nicknameof the target user) or authentication keys. The name or similar identityindicators may be passed to the location information services client asan identifier. The client may then use the identifier in the locationrequest instead of MSISDN. In this case the location middleware wouldrequest for the IP address by sending the identifier to the database.

It shall be appreciated that although the above describes the inventionin with reference to IP session, this is not the only possibility forthe user plane communication. The communication may occur, for example,based on signalling via Abis/Iub interface, PDP context, short messageservice (SMS), data call and so on.

The IP session based positioning may be provided automatic PDPactivation and IP address mapping. Both the access and location serversmay be controlled by the operators, and thus it is possible to avoid theIP address information from entering outside the network.

It should be appreciated that whilst embodiments of the presentinvention have been described in relation to mobile stations,embodiments of the present invention are applicable to any othersuitable type of mobile user equipment.

It should also be appreciated that whilst embodiments of the resentinvention have been described in relation to location services,embodiments of the present invention are applicable to provision of anyother services wherein at least a part of the data is transported on theuser plane and wherein the client does not known the user plane addressof the target user equipment.

Examples of the other services include the so called push typeadvertisement services. In this example the user may have defined to anapplication residing e.g. in the Internet/intranet that he allowspushing of advertisements to his/hers user equipment. Advertisements aresent e.g. every hour to the user equipment. The IP address for sendingthe advertisement is obtained as described above.

It is also noted herein that while the above describes exemplifyingembodiments of the invention, there are several variations andmodifications which may be made to the disclosed solution withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention as defined in theappended claims.

1. A method of communicating information associated with provisioning ofa service in a communication system, the method comprising: storing instorage means information about possible associations between anidentifier of a mobile user equipment and user plane addresses;receiving at a service provisioning entity a request for the servicefrom a client connected to the communication system, said requestincluding the identifier of the mobile user equipment; verifying if auser plane address can be found from the storage means based on theidentifier; and if such a user plane address is found from the storagemeans, communicating data associated with provisioning of the requestedservice to the mobile user equipment over a user plane connectionassociated with said address found from the storage means; and if nouser plane address can be found from the storage means based on theidentifier, establishing a new user plane connection and communicatingdata associated with provisioning of the requested service to the mobileuser equipment over said established user plane connection.
 2. A methodas claimed in claim 1, wherein the requested service comprises alocation information service and said data communicated on the userplane associates with provisioning of information regarding thegeographical location of the mobile user equipment.
 3. A method asclaimed in claim 2, wherein said data communicated on the user planecomprises assistance data for use in location determinations by themobile user equipment.
 4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein saiddata communicated on the user plane comprises Global Positioning System(GPS) assistance data.
 5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein theuser plane communication occurs by means of an Internet Protocol (IP)session and the user plane address comprises an Internet Protocol (IP)address for the mobile user equipment.
 6. A method as claimed in claim1, wherein the identifier comprises a Mobile Subscriber IntegratedServices Digital Network (MSISDN) number of the mobile user equipment.7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises aname that associates with the mobile user equipment.
 8. A method asclaimed in claim 1, comprising authentication of the client.
 9. A methodas claimed in claim 8, wherein the authentication is accomplished bymeans of a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server.10. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein user plane address isfetched from the storage means by an access server.
 11. A method asclaimed in claim 10, wherein the access server comprises a gatewayserver entity.
 12. An arrangement in a communication system forprovision of a service in response to a request from a client, theprovisioning of the service requiring communication of data to and/orfrom a mobile user equipment, the arrangement comprising: a serviceprovisioning entity for receiving a service request from the client, therequest identifying the mobile user equipment by means of an identifier;storage means for maintaining information regarding possibleassociations between the identifier of the mobile user equipment anduser plane addresses that can be used for user plane data transmissionsin said communication system, wherein the storage is arranged to verifyif a user plane address for communication of data can be found from thestorage means based on the identifier, and, if such a user plane addressis found from the storage means, data associated with provisioning ofthe requested service to the mobile user equipment is communicated overa user plane connection associated with said address found from thestorage means, and if no user plane address can be found from thestorage means based on the identifier, a new user plane connection isestablished and data associated with provisioning of the requestedservice to the mobile user equipment is communicated over saidestablished user plane connection.
 13. An arrangement as claimed inclaim 12, wherein the requested service comprises a location informationservice and said data to be communicated on the user plane associateswith provisioning of information regarding the geographical location ofthe mobile user equipment.
 14. An arrangement as claimed in claim 13,wherein said data to be communicated on the user plane comprisesassistance data for use in location determinations by the mobile userequipment.
 15. An arrangement as claimed in claim 14, wherein said datato be communicated on the user plane comprises Global Positioning System(GPS) assistance data.
 16. An arrangement as claimed in claim 12,wherein the user plane communication is arranged to be provided by meansof an Internet Protocol (IP) session and the user plane addresscomprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address for the mobile userequipment.
 17. An arrangement as claimed in claim 12, wherein theidentifier comprises a Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services DigitalNetwork (MSISDN) number of the mobile user equipment.
 18. An arrangementas claimed in claim 12, wherein the identifier comprises a name thatassociates with the mobile user equipment.